Under Construction

“The Blueprint”

1 John 1:5-10

Blueprints do two things:

1. They instruct

2. They correct

1 John 1:5-10 – “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

I. WHAT TO DO

Key command, v.7: “If we walk in the light”

Two Major Themes:

1. Light (1 John 1:1-3:10)

2. Love (1 John 3:11-5:21)

Light:

1 John 1:5 – “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

Love:

1 John 3:11 – “For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”

1 John 4:16 – “God is love.”

Q: What does the light of God mean?

a. To walk in the light of truth

Ps. 43:3 – “Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me.”

b. To walk in the light of illumination

1 Corinthians 2:14 – “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”

Luke 8:10 – “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’”

c. To walk in the light of moral uprightness

v.5 – “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.”

v.6 – “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

II. WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU DON’T DO WHAT YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO DO

vs.8-10 – “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

Two truths:

1. If you say you have fellowship with Christ, but you walk in the dark, you are lying.

2. If you say you never walk in the dark, you are lying, and you are calling God a liar as well.

“Confession,” Gk. ὁμολογέω (homologeō), “to speak the same as”

Confession moves in two directions:

1. To God

2. To one another

Parameters for a confession partner:

1. Not your spouse

2. Not the opposite sex

3. Someone who will confess to you

What happens when we confess?

v.6 – “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”